- 2 flash in one body - "A" mode for notautomatic camera

A little heave :)

I purchased Metz 54 mz4 for my Mamiya 7 with "hot-shoe". I use flash in "A" mode, when flash measure quantity of light. Results of testing - pbase.com/xon/image/38088128 and http://www.pbase.com/xon/image/38088129. I set +1EV for getting good results when shooting by Mamiya 7 - may be for 35mm camera its no need. Also I use this flash with digital Minolta 7i via SCA adapter. Photos with Metz look better then with native Minolta 5600 flash.

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Minolta 5600

Weight balance in the hot shoes of my cameras. Powerful output!

Usual less than optimal German-English language translation.

After using numerous Metz flashes with my Leica M and R equipment and not liking their designs, this is the design I waited a long time for and am now entirely pleased! Superlative to use and nicely effective no matter what I aim it at.

super efficient and easy to use.

i bought this for my Canon D60. after frustrations with the canon 550EX in E-TTL, this flash made me a believer in flash photography again. even easier is to put this flash in "auto" and the D60 in "manual" modes and just fire away. have yet to get an improperly exposed shot.

Customer Service

none needed so far.

Build quality,colour is better than 550ex,system flexibility,range of functions if you can get them to work.Price

Compatability

I purchased this flash after using metz flashes for some years and wishing to have the E-TTL function with my EOS 3,beware Canon users it could give you alot of pain.Compatability isnt its strongest point.In A-TTL it`s as good as ome of the older models.It has some rather strange ideas about shutter/diagphram combinations in program and was`nt useable in Tv and Av modes due to the same problem after the second unit I have given up.Even after chip modes in sigma lenses and a software update in the EOS 3 this flash just doesnt do it for me I have gone to the Canon 550ex(a bit to blue for me but it works).The build quality is good and the manuals are well written and clear.

Customer Service

they do reply to your emails but send you straight to your dealer.My dealer is good so I`m ok but get a crappy dealer and you got problems

Similar Products Used:

Metz CT45,MZ 40-2

Auto zoom 24-105mm, built-in 20mm wide flash cover, easy to read instructions, light quality is excellent.

Has not got the built-in bounce card like the SB-28, and to use it in rear-sync takes too many steps navigating the controls on the flash. Rear-sync is the only setting that cannot be done on the camera unlike red-eye and slow sync.

German excellence through and through. Bought this flash after disappointment with Nikon SB-28. This is the second flash I've bought from Metz. The first being the powerful 60CT4. I use the 54MZ3 on my F-80 and have gotten excellent results. Light is very clean and white, whereas SB-28 is a tinge yellow. I use this flash mostly when I want to travel light.

Customer Service

Not required yet.

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Nikon SB-28

Many, many high end features. Great TTL. Ability to change settings in 1/3 stop increments. Auto wide angle and telephot continual adjustment. Easy to use with two buttons and one dial. Many more!

The only thing I can say is that it appears to be a bit loose where the foot goes inot the adapter unit for the camera. Other reviews say the same thing.Other than that, it is excellent.

I carefully chose this flash unit after much study to get the best that I could. Since this is something that I would use on a regular basis, I decided not to let cash stand in the way. After checking many units out, talking to people who owned them, reading reviews, I picked this one. What a great choice! For the money, it has many features that you would find on a more expensive and perhaps not so easy to use unit. The manual is very well written, and pretty straight forward and easy to use. Since this model comes with an adaptable base unit so that it will operate on several of the top lines of cameras, it is quite amazing how it seems to have been built just for my Minoltas. It operates seamlessly with this brand. The TTL capacities and options are very extensive, including the ability to adjust in steps of 1/3 in either direction.

Customer Service

Fantastic!! Replaced a loose adapter unit in less than a week from the time I mailed it. The customer service is friendly, courteous, knowledgable, and helpful.

Similar Products Used:

Novoflex units for macro (awesome!)

-2nd refrector
-Easy to use
-Powerful
-Cheap
-Lots of features

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I am using it on a F90X. I chose it instead of the SB28 because of the better value/quality ratio. Now I am really happy with the decission. Setting it at -0,7, you will get wonderful portraits.

Customer Service

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Similar Products Used:

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High Power, motorzoom, perfect Interface (Dial-Jog and two buttons), covers up to 20mm lenses, offers a wide range of accessoires, total camera brand interchangeability because of the SCA-System. So many features, like Nikon 3D-Matrix Fill Flash, TTL, manual (down to 1/128th partial light output), automatic, multiple flash wireless-TTL in combination other Metz units, strobe, modeling light, lighted display...

The Sb-28, which is its direct counterpart in the Nikon system seems to be build stronger and offers a better housing. The SCA adaptor feels kind of loose on some units...

I had to decide between the Nikon SB-28 or this Metz unit. I finally bought the Metz, because of its much lower price and its more features. It is even more powerful. On the other hand, the SB-28 seems to be built better, but i experienced, that the Metz takes it all too, i shoot rock concerts and sports most of the time. The flash works perfect in combination with my Nikon F5, because it supports all flash features, the F5 offers. It offers some nice goodies too, like when i put on the light of camera display, the flash's display gets lighted too and vice versa. The option of the Metz wireless TTL-System lets you shoot with multiple flash setups in no time, when you don't have the time to meter manually.
Worth its money, no problems at all.

Customer Service

Perfect. My flash "won" a free flight down a stairset. At the first glance, the unit survided, but i send it in to have it checked. I got it back after a week, repaired at no cost - warranty.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon SB-28

This is a powerful flash, It can
share with a different camera
with different adapter, it has more new features like strobe light and wireless TTL.

Recycle time slow.
SCA sdapter kind loose, during
insert or remove from a camera.
No TTL compensation on the flash.

I have this flash about 3 weeks, used it with Nikon F100 & Hasselblad. The color of the skin tone look more natural than nikon flash. Easy to use.

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

Nikon SB26 Metz45 CL3

Lots of features (and really usable like 1/2-1/128th power, HSS and the motor zoomhead feature that keeps the flash's zoom one step wider than the lens you are using), warm light for a flash, powerful.

The little plastic diffuser in front of the 2nd reflector kept falling off, and finally broke in two. I glued mine on the flash with the dark side on the reflector.

My number one flash. A pleasure to use. I use it with my Nikon FE2 and F5 and it works perfect on both, fill-flash capabilities on manual mode are fantastic the flash gives you the distance and counts different power/f-stop/zoomhead/filmspeed ratios and is easy to use. I also occasionally use Metz and SB-24 as a two flash unit with TTL-cords SC-17 & Sc-19 and get beautifull lightning.

Customer Service

Never tried

Similar Products Used:

Nikon SB-16B & SB-24